THE FACE SHOP x HOODIE RYAN IS HERE! Is it worth it?

Maybe it’s just me, but I was waiting very impatiently for the release of The Face Shop’s HOODIE RYAN collection – while I have my fair share of products from previous The Face Shop x Kakao Friends collections, I just couldn’t resist wanting to buy absolutely everything from this particular release.

Of all the precious characters, Ryan is my favorite, and his little hoodie just destroys me. Come on. He looks so sweet?! The fact that he isn’t wearing pants is just icing on the cake – I could cry at the cuteness:

LOOK AT HIM

Today, I’m reviewing one of my purchases from the collection – the MONO POP EYES Palette.

I’ll kick this off with the basics:

The palettes range at around ~$18 and come with a sponge applicator.

Each palette holds 8 shades at 9.5g total – roughly 1.2g per pan.

They come in two colorways – roughly translated, #01 SAND PLAY (top) and #02 MAPLE PLAY (bottom):

Image courtesy of The Face Shop. PLEASE look at the boxes!

I’ll begin with the obvious – the packaging. Let’s be completely, 100% real: had it not been for the packaging, I wouldn’t have thought twice to buy yet another nude eyeshadow palette. I was here for Ryan, and Ryan only, and I’m pretty sure The Face Shop knew.

Just LOOK at how adorable this is:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The case is a nice, hard plastic and his features are 3D, not printed, so there’s no need to worry about it possibly scratching off. Even if these shades sucked, I would consider this purchase a total success. You win this round, capitalism!

For the sake of review, I decided to pick up #01 SAND PLAY – Korean eyeshadows have a less-than-favorable reputation in terms of quality, especially in the matte department. Option #01 has a nice range of mattes and reminds me a bit of a condensed version of the Naked 1 palette. FYI, there are no individual shade names:

Wow! Such unique colors! I’ve never seen brown before!

I do like the cohesiveness of it, though, as the colors are actually different from each other and aren’t 35 of the same shade as we see in many neutral eye palettes (I’m looking at you, Morphe). It’s got a good range of light/medium/dark, as well as cool/warm shades that allow for tons of variety in looks.

When I began swatching, I realized these shadows are SOFT. Like, crazy soft. I really do think they’re some of the softest shadows I’ve ever used. There’s a bit of kickback, but nothing wild:

Shhhhh – don’t laugh, I never do swatches!

It was ridiculously easy to blend. Harsh lines WHO? I seriously had no trouble blending them out and didn’t experience any patchiness or fading in the blending process. Nothing transferred throughout the day, either, which is a MAJOR win with my hooded eyes. I managed to have my shadow on for ~8 hours without fading.

I can’t believe this palette is only $18! For all the positives + too cute case I’d really expect a premium price.

Final Verdict:

Pigmentation: 9/10. I was shocked – I found them to be more pigmented than my Pony Effect palettes, which I consider to be the more pigmented side of Korean eyeshadows. I’d rank them at around MAC pigmentation.

Application: 9/10. Like velvet! Soft, smooth, easy to use.

Blendability: 9/10. It was really easy to blend out the darker shades, which is always an issue with me, Korean brand or not. They were easier to blend than most MAC eyeshadows I own, and didn’t lose pigmentation throughout the process.

Packaging: 10/10. Anything under a 10 would be a miscarriage of review.

Lasting Power: 8/10. Not much fading going on, and lasted all night in hot weather.

Overall: 9/10. Yeah, I’m shocked too. This is a really good palette. I am quite surprised at the pigmentation of these shadows, especially for how soft they are. This is most definitely a new favorite, especially for traveling.

Needless to say, I’m glad my excessive consumerism didn’t fail me this time – I found a beautiful palette with precious packaging and am SO exciting to keep on using this!